CHAPTER I
THE SHRILL TRUMPET
Very early the next morning, before the first peep of the day, Dickarose, changed his garments, armed himself once more like a gentleman,and set forth for Lawless's den in the forest. There, it will beremembered, he had left Lord Foxham's papers; and to get these and beback in time for the tryst with the young Duke of Gloucester could onlybe managed by an early start, and the most vigorous walking.
The frost was more rigorous than ever; the air windless and dry, andstinging to the nostril. The moon had gone down, but the stars werestill bright and numerous, and the reflection from the snow was clearand cheerful. There was no need for a lamp to walk by; nor, in thatstill but ringing air, the least temptation to delay.
Dick had crossed the greater part of the open ground between Shoreby andthe forest, and had reached the bottom of the little hill, some hundredyards below the Cross of St. Bride, when, through the stillness of theblack morn, there rang forth the note of a trumpet, so shrill, clear,and piercing, that he thought he had never heard the match of it foraudibility. It was blown once, and then hurriedly a second time; andthen the clash of steel succeeded.
At this young Shelton pricked his ears, and drawing his sword, ranforward up the hill.
Presently he came in sight of the cross, and was aware of a most fierceencounter raging on the road before it. There were seven or eightassailants, and but one to keep head against them; but so active anddexterous was this one, so desperately did he charge and scatter hisopponents, so deftly keep his footing on the ice, that already, beforeDick could intervene, he had slain one, wounded another, and kept thewhole in check.
Still, it was by a miracle that he continued his defence, and at anymoment, any accident, the least slip of foot or error of hand, his lifewould be a forfeit.
"Hold ye well, sir! Here is help!" cried Richard; and forgetting that hewas alone, and that the cry was somewhat irregular, "To the Arrow! tothe Arrow!" he shouted, as he fell upon the rear of the assailants.
These were stout fellows also, for they gave not an inch at thissurprise, but faced about, and fell with astonishing fury upon Dick.Four against one, the steel flashed about him in the starlight; thesparks flew fiercely; one of the men opposed to him fell--in the stir ofthe fight he hardly knew why; then he himself was struck across thehead, and though the steel cap below his hood protected him, the blowbeat him down upon one knee, with a brain whirling like a windmill-sail.
Meanwhile the man whom he had come to rescue, instead of joining in theconflict, had, on the first sign of intervention, leaped aback and blownagain, and yet more urgently and loudly, on that same shrill-voicedtrumpet that began the alarm. Next moment, indeed, his foes were on him,and he was once more charging and fleeing, leaping, stabbing, droppingto his knee, and using indifferently sword and dagger, foot and hand,with the same unshaken courage and feverish energy and speed.
But that ear-piercing summons had been heard at last. There was amuffled rushing in the snow; and in a good hour for Dick, who saw thesword-points glitter already at his throat, there poured forth out ofthe wood upon both sides a disorderly torrent of mounted men-at-arms,each cased in iron, and with visor lowered, each bearing his lance inrest, or his sword bared and raised, and each carrying, so to speak, apassenger, in the shape of an archer or page, who leaped one afteranother from their perches, and had presently doubled the array.
The original assailants, seeing themselves outnumbered and surrounded,threw down their arms without a word.
"Seize me these fellows!" said the hero of the trumpet; and when hisorder had been obeyed, he drew near to Dick and looked him in the face.
Dick, returning this scrutiny, was surprised to find in one who haddisplayed such strength, skill, and energy, a lad no older thanhimself--slightly deformed, with one shoulder higher than the other, andof a pale, painful, and distorted countenance.[2] The eyes, however,were very clear and bold.
"Sir," said this lad, "ye came in good time for me, and none too early."
"My lord," returned Dick, with a faint sense that he was in the presenceof a great personage, "ye are yourself so marvellous a good swordsmanthat I believe ye had managed them single-handed. Howbeit, it wascertainly well for me that your men delayed no longer than they did."
"How knew ye who I was?" demanded the stranger.
"Even now, my lord," Dick answered, "I am ignorant of whom I speakwith."
"Is it so?" asked the other. "And yet ye threw yourself head first intothis unequal battle."
"I saw one man valiantly contending against many," replied Dick, "and Ihad thought myself dishonoured not to bear him aid."
A singular sneer played about the young nobleman's mouth as he madeanswer:
"These are very brave words. But to the more essential--are ye Lancasteror York?"
"My lord, I make no secret; I am clear for York," Dick answered.
"By the mass!" replied the other, "it is well for you."
And so saying, he turned towards one of his followers.
"Let me see," he continued, in the same sneering and cruel tones--"letme see a clean end of these brave gentlemen. Truss me them up."
There were but five survivors of the attacking party. Archers seizedthem by the arms; they were hurried to the borders of the wood, and eachplaced below a tree of suitable dimensions; the rope was adjusted; anarcher, carrying the end of it, hastily clambered overhead, and before aminute was over, and without a word passing upon either hand, the fivemen were swinging by the neck.
"And now," cried the deformed leader, "back to your posts, and when Isummon you next, be readier to attend."
"My lord duke," said one man, "beseech you, tarry not here alone. Keepbut a handful of lances at your hand."
"Fellow," said the duke, "I have forborne to chide you for yourslowness. Cross me not, therefore. I trust my hand and arm, for all thatI be crooked. Ye were backward when the trumpet sounded: and ye are nowtoo forward with your counsels. But it is ever so; last with the lanceand first with the tongue. Let it be reversed."
And with a gesture that was not without a sort of dangerous nobility, hewaved them off.
The footmen climbed again to their seats behind the men-at-arms, and thewhole party moved slowly away and disappeared in twenty differentdirections, under the cover of the forest.
The day was by this time beginning to break, and the stars to fade. Thefirst grey glimmer of dawn shone upon the countenances of the two youngmen, who now turned once more to face each other.
"Here," said the duke, "ye have seen my vengeance, which is, like myblade, both sharp and ready. But I would not have you, for allChristendom, suppose me thankless. You that came to my aid with a goodsword and a better courage--unless that ye recoil from mymis-shapeness--come to my heart."
And so saying, the young leader held out his arms for an embrace.
In the bottom of his heart Dick already entertained a great terror andsome hatred for the man whom he had rescued; but the invitation was soworded that it would not have been merely discourteous, but cruel, torefuse or hesitate, and he hastened to comply.
"And now, my lord duke," he said, when he had regained his freedom, "doI suppose aright? Are ye my Lord Duke of Gloucester?"
"I am Richard of Gloucester," returned the other. "And you--how callthey you?"
Dick told him his name, and presented Lord Foxham's signet, which theduke immediately recognised.
"Ye come too soon," he said; "but why should I complain? Ye are like me,that was here at watch two hours before the day. But this is the firstsally of mine arms; upon this adventure, Master Shelton, shall I make ormar the quality of my renown. There lie mine enemies, under two old,skilled captains, Risingham and Brackley, well posted for strength, I dobelieve, but yet upon two sides without retreat, enclosed betwixt thesea, the harbour, and the river. Methinks, Shelton, here were a greatblow to be stricken, an we could strike it silently and suddenly."
"I do think so, indeed," cried Dick, warming.
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"Have ye my Lord Foxham's notes?" inquired the duke.
And then Dick, having explained how he was without them for the moment,made himself bold to offer information every jot as good, of his ownknowledge.
"And for mine own part, my lord duke," he added, "an ye had men enough,I would fall on even at this present. For, look ye, at the peep of daythe watches of the night are over; but by day they keep neither watchnor ward--only scour the outskirts with horsemen. Now, then, when thenight-watch is already unarmed, and the rest are at their morningcup--now were the time to break them."
"How many do ye count?" asked Gloucester.
"They number not two thousand," Dick replied.
"I have seven hundred in the woods behind us," said the duke; "sevenhundred follow from Kettley, and will be here anon; behind these, andfarther, are four hundred more; and my Lord Foxham hath five hundredhalf a day from here, at Holywood. Shall we attend their coming or fallon?"
"My lord," said Dick, "when ye hanged these five poor rogues ye diddecide the question. Churls although they were, in these uneasy timesthey will be lacked and looked for, and the alarm be given. Therefore,my lord, if ye do count upon the advantage of a surprise, ye have not,in my poor opinion, one whole hour in front of you."
"I do think so indeed," returned Crookback. "Well, before an hour yeshall be in the thick on't, winning spurs. A swift man to Holywood,carrying Lord Foxham's signet; another along the road to speed mylaggards! Nay, Shelton, by the rood, it may be done!"
Therewith he once more set his trumpet to his lips and blew.
This time he was not long kept waiting. In a moment the open space aboutthe cross was filled with horse and foot. Richard of Gloucester took hisplace upon the steps, and despatched messenger after messenger to hastenthe concentration of the seven hundred men that lay hidden in theimmediate neighbourhood among the woods; and before a quarter of an hourhad passed, all his dispositions being taken, he put himself at theirhead, and began to move down the hill towards Shoreby.
His plan was simple. He was to seize a quarter of the town of Shorebylying on the right hand of the high-road, and make his position goodthere in the narrow lanes until his reinforcements followed.
If Lord Risingham chose to retreat, Richard would follow upon his rear,and take him between two fires; or, if he preferred to hold the town, hewould be shut in a trap, there to be gradually overwhelmed by force ofnumbers.
There was but one danger, but that was imminent and great--Gloucester'sseven hundred might be rolled up and cut to pieces in the firstencounter, and, to avoid this, it was needful to make the surprise oftheir arrival as complete as possible.
The footmen, therefore, were all once more taken up behind the riders,and Dick had the signal honour meted out to him of mounting behindGloucester himself. For as far as there was any cover the troops movedslowly, and when they came near the end of the trees that lined thehighway, stopped to breathe and reconnoitre.
The sun was now well up, shining with a frosty brightness out of ayellow halo, and right over against the luminary, Shoreby, a field ofsnowy roofs and ruddy gables, was rolling up its columns of morningsmoke.
Gloucester turned round to Dick.
"In that poor place," he said, "where people are cooking breakfast,either you shall gain your spurs and I begin a life of mighty honour andglory in the world's eye, or both of us, as I conceive it, shall falldead and be unheard of. Two Richards are we. Well then, Richard Shelton,they shall be heard about, these two! Their swords shall not ring moreloudly on men's helmets than their names shall ring in people's ears."
Dick was astonished at so great a hunger after fame, expressed with sogreat vehemence of voice and language; and he answered very sensibly andquietly, that, for his part, he promised he would do his duty, anddoubted not of victory if every one did the like.
By this time the horses were well breathed, and the leader holding uphis sword and giving rein, the whole troop of chargers broke into thegallop and thundered, with their double load of fighting men, down theremainder of the hill and across the snow-covered plain that stilldivided them from Shoreby.
FOOTNOTE:
[2] Richard Crookback would have been really far younger at this date.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 8 Page 28